A Sumatran orangutan was seen using a medicinal plant to heal a facial wound at an Indonesian research site in a first step for non-humankind.
The male primate applied a paste made from the poultice plant on his cheek, eventually closing the large wound up, according to research published Thursday at the Scientific Reports journal. A month later, he full recovered in what the paper’s authors said was the first documented case of an animal healing itself with a plant.
In June 2022, researchers observed the ape named Rakus that sustained the facial wound at the Suaq Balimbing research site in Gunung Leuser National Park. Three days later, they saw him chew on liana leaves that he ripped off and then repeatedly applied the resulting juice onto his injury for seven minutes, completely covering it. He then continued to feed on the plant for another 30 minutes.
Scientists concluded that Rakus knew the process would heal him because orangutans rarely eat poultice, because of the precise placement of the plant on the wound and the amount of time it took.
“They are our closest relatives and this again points towards the similarities we share with them. We are more similar than we are different,” biologist and lead author Isabella Laumer told BBC. “I think in the next few years we will discover even more behaviors and more abilities that are very human-like.”
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Rakus sustained wound fighting other orangutans
Researchers said they have never observed anything like this in their 21 years of observing the creatures. However they acknowledged that could be due to the fact that they rarely encounter injured orangutans at Suaq.
Rakus received the facial injury during physical altercations with other flanged males, researchers suspect.
Having underwent his secondary sexual development around this time, he tried to establish himself as the dominant male orangutan in the area, according to behavioral data collected.
Liana plant used to treat diabetes, malaria
The evergreen plant’s official name is Fibraurea tinctoria, also referred to as Akar Kuning, Akar Palo and Yellow Root. The plant spans from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia.
The related liana species, often located in tropical forests of Southeast Asia, are used in traditional medicine to treat diseases like dysentery, diabetes and malaria, according to the report. All parts of the plant are used for its medical applications, from the leaves and stems to the roots and bark.
The instance represents the first documentation of a wild animal applying biologically active substances to treat an active wound, offering “new insights to the origins of human wound care,” the authors said.
